Pickleball Safety Tips for Seniors: Tony Roig, a 55-year-old senior pickleball professional and master teaching coach, has shared movement tips for players over 50. His goal is to help them move better and safer during games. In a recent lesson, Roy focused on key skills like body balance, footwork, and protecting players from common injuries.
He began by explaining that the way players stand and move is important. Roig said, “What we’re talking about here isn’t so much your paddle. It’s more about your body being in a ready position.” This means players should stay balanced, with their weight on the balls of their feet, knees bent, and shoulders slightly forward.
Roig encouraged players to test it out. He said, “If you want to, you can try right now. Stand up. Put your weight in the heels and try and think of moving in the direction. It’s very difficult to do.” To move quickly in any direction, players must find the right foot spacing and a firm balance.
Staying Balanced and Avoiding Injuries
Roig stressed that balance is key for older players. If a player feels out of control, the risk of falling goes up. “What you don’t want to feel is…like you’re going to lose your balance and potentially fall over,” he said. To avoid this, players need to stand with legs spaced well and knees slightly bent.
He warned against using unsafe footwork, like “cross-stepping.” He said, “Cross stepping is a type of movement that is prone to imbalance because you’re bringing all of your weight up on one leg and then trying to transfer it over…that’s a recipe for potential disaster.”
Roig also talked about how leg spacing affects stability. Legs too close or too far apart can lead to problems. “We want to start with…our legs too far apart and potentially locking us into position,” he explained.
Another problem happens when players switch directions quickly without resetting. If a player is moving one way and suddenly turns the other way without stopping, they may fall. Roig said, “You’re instantaneously trying to move to the left. That is a recipe for falling down.”
Split Step: The Secret to Changing Direction
To stay safe, Roig suggests using a “split step.” This means stopping in a ready position before changing direction. Roig said, “The move we’re going to use here is the split step.”
He showed how a calm, easy version of the move can help older players. “We’re just going to basically be resetting…This is my split step. Now, I’m ready to move,” Roig said. Instead of jumping like younger players, older players just need to slow down and get back into a stable position.
Roig gave an example: “I’m moving to the right…and now I go, ‘Oh, the ball’s going there.’ Instead of just switching my weight…I’m going to move to the right, I’m going to split step and then I’m going to move to the left.”
How to Handle Lobs Without Falling
Roig said the most dangerous move in pickleball is running backward to chase a lob. “That is again the most dangerous thing that we do on the pickleball court,” he warned. The risk is especially high when looking up while running backwards, because it puts weight on the heels.
He added, “You can fall backward potentially injuring an arm, injuring your back, or worse yet, hitting your head hard on the court.”
Instead of running backwards, Roig teaches players to “open the door.” This move allows players to safely turn and move sideways or forward. “What you’re going to do is you’re going to pivot on your left foot and you’re going to bring your right leg back like this,” he explained for right-handed players.
Left-handed players do the same move in the opposite direction. “I’m going to pivot now on my right leg and bring my left leg behind me like this,” Roig said.
This way, players can move back safely and hit the ball out of the air or return it after it bounces.
More Help for Older Pickleball Players
Tony Roig ended the lesson by saying that these tips can help players move better and avoid injury. He also invited players to join the Better Pickleball Academy. It is made for people over 50 who want to get better at the game.
He said, “Add these tips into your movement and you’ll move safer and more efficiently. And when you’re ready to really up your game, join us inside the Better Pickle Ball Academy designed specifically for 50 plus players.”
A discount code for the academy was also mentioned at the end of the video lesson.
News in Brief: Pickleball Safety Tips for Seniors
Tony Roig, a 55-year-old master pickleball coach, taught players over 50 how to move safely on court. He focused on body balance, footwork, and avoiding injury—especially when defending lobs. He advises using split steps and “opening the door” to avoid falls. Roig runs the Better Pickleball Academy.
ALSO READ: Pickleball Speed-Up Technique: Coach Tony Roig Reveals Winning Lane Tactics